Qat

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT QAT - PAGE 2

If there is one thing Somalis are even more attached to than their guns it is qat, the leafy green drug flown in daily from Kenya to sustain the national habit of this beleaguered country. Throughout the worst of Somalia's problems, during the darkest days of the fighting and at the peak of the famine, the small planes carrying qat have continued to land at Mogadishu's airports. By noon, the drug hits the markets in town, and by 4 p.m. practically every Somali is munching away on the leaf, which acts as a mild stimulant and appetite suppressant.

What are we doing here? This ought to be an easy question for the thousands of American and allied marines, soldiers and fliers who are getting used to the idea that Somalia will be home for the holidays. United States-led troops engaged in Operation Restore Hope are to ensure that food and other emergency supplies reach Somalis at risk of starving to death. This is the job their leaders must keep clear to participants in the United Nations-authorized venture. Obviously, the leaders themselves-from President Bush and UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on down the chain of command-have to understand clearly what the operation's goals are. And, as important, what they are not. In view of this, it is unsettling to learn that Boutros-Ghali, despite efforts Monday to paper over differences with Washington, expects American forces to accomplish more in Somalia than the U.S. envisions for them.

Her face is soft and round, cocooned in a loose blue cotton hijab. Her eyes are like black onyx, full of mystery. But Maryam Mohammed covers her smile with hennaed fingers, casts her gaze downward, a picture of shy anxiety--not the image of someone who has done the most dangerous job in one of the world's most dangerous cities. Until recently, Mohammed was one of many women making the daily qat run, braving a gantlet of gunmen on the airport road to meet small planes crammed with the highly addictive narcotic leaf so they could bring it to market.

On Dec. 14 the Tribune reported that the drug of choice in Somalia is qat and the U.S. military is already busy working to stamp it out. The disastrous consequences of U.S. prohibitionist drug policies are also immediately evident. In the space of one week since our arrival, we have caused the price of qat to double, doubled the average Somalian daily expenditure on qat, and encouraged drug suppliers to overcome American interdiction barriers to reap skyrocketing prices. Next we can expect to see violence between drug dealers fighting over profits and addicts mugging their countrymen to get the money to pay the artificially inflated prices.

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - British police said on Tuesday they had arrested seven people on suspicion of financing terrorism overseas and money laundering. The six men and one woman were arrested in early morning raids in London, Welsh capital Cardiff and Coventry in the English midlands, police said. The arrests were part of an international investigation into the illegal export of the stimulant qat to the United States and Canada. "The arrests were a part of a pre-planned, intelligence-led operation into suspected fundraising for terrorism overseas," London's Metropolitan Police said.

"These matters were handled more simply in the Middle Ages. They`d simply have executed Diana." -Ross Benson, royal reporter for the London Express, on the marital separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales. "When you drink whiskey, you can`t tell who is your brother and you will attack everybody. But when you chew the green grass, you can remember who is your brother." -Hassan Alrashid Abdalla, a security official with a Somali guerrilla force, on the merits of qat, the leafy drug many Somalis chew as a stimulant.

Q-A longtime friend says he has good authority for a statement that the nicotine in smoke is good for lowering cholesterol. He claims he read this in a medical magazine, but can`t find the clipping to prove it. Do you have any information that can help us figure this out? A-Many words seem alike, but are quite different. This is a real case of mistaken identity. It's probable that your friend was reading about nicotinic acid. Although the name is similar, it has nothing to do either with smoke or the nicotine found in tobacco.

Q-I`ve been told that color prints will fade within a short time. Is that true? A-With proper care, color photographs should last 100 years. Photo manufacturers are improving color print paper for long-term keeping. Ektacolor and Cibrachrome papers, for example, are designed to last more than a century under normal conditions. Photos stored in an album should be kept at 75 degrees F (24 C) or cooler, with a relative humidity of 40 percent or less. Avoid storing prints in a basement or attic.